Visual reception of radio waves



Feb, 25, 1947. R K, PQTTER Y 2,416,346

VISUAL RECEPTION 0F RADIO WAVES Filed April 14, 1942 Ml. DET. @.RE AMR PEU/PIER SWEEP .SYNC/-IROlV/Z CIRCUIT EL W ? R. KPOTTER ArroR/vgy atented VISUAL RECEPTION F RADIO WAVES Ralph K. Potter, Madison, N. J., assgnor to Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application April 14, 1942, Serial No. 438,879

This invention relates to systems and methods adapted for the reception and visual representation of electromagnetic wave energy appearing in different transmission channels distributed throughout a Wide range of radio frequencies. The invention has application especially to the monitoring of radio transmission whereby all radio communication channels within a predetermined frequency range may be simultaneously and continuously observed.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved system of the kind to which the invention relates in which, as compared with systems known heretofore, the visual representation of different radio transmissions may be continuously monitored with far less strain on the monitoring observer, and in which impulses or other transmissions of short duration may be readily detected, the character of the transmisvsions in the several channels may be ascertained Y Another object of the invention is to translate telegraphic radio signals into a visual representation such that visible dots and dashes corresponding to the telegraphic signals appear to an observer to flow continuously across the field of View. v

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention there is provided a cathode ray oscilloscope and a radio wave receiver adapted to scan cyclically the radio frequency range of interest .and to control the intensity of the cathode ray in accordance with the wave intensity observed in the successively encountered yfrequency channels. The cathode ray, or the luminescent spot` produced by the ray, is simultaneously displaced cyclically across the screen of the oscilloscope in synchronism `with the scanning operation and in a plane that is xed relative to the observer. At the same time the. screen is rotated or otherwise progressively moved relative to the observer so that the luminous record left by the cathode ray appears to fiow across the screen from a fixed generating point.

The nature ofthe Apresent, invention and its various objects, features and advantages will appear more fully from a consideration of the embodiments illustratedin the accompanying drawing and now to be described. In the drawing, Figs, 1 and 2 illustrate two embodiments of the invention utilizing different types of Oscilloscopes.

Referring to Fig. .1, 'there is shownl schemati- Clly a System in accordance. with the invention 8 Claims. (Cl. Z50- 20) in which the output of a radio scanning receiver and the output of a sweep circuit are applied to control the cathode ray in a cathode ray oscilloscope of unusual construction. An oscilloscope of the kind indicated is disclosed and claimed in s v1946), to which referencemay'be made for details of construction, For present purposes it will suice to say that thevoscilloscope comprises a luminescent screen I of substantially cylindrical form arranged for continuous rotation about its axis, and means for projecting a beam of electrons more or less along a diameter ofthe cylinder. The beam is formed with the aid of a'. groundedelectron emitting cathode 2 and an apertured anode 4 in the usual manner, anda grid 3 is interposedas a means for controlling the intensity of the beam. Beam deflecting plates 5 are positioned to deflect the beam in a fixed Vertical or axialplane so that the luminous spot produced on the screen traces a fixed line at lsubstantially right angles to the direction of movement of the screen. If in any case an unobstructed view Aof the screen cannot be had,

the area of view as indicated by the enclosure 6,

may be so arranged that the aforementioned fixed line appears along the edge thereof whereby the trace left by the beam is carried across the viewing area by the` movement of the screen.

The scanning receiver connected to radio antenna I0 may comprise, as shown, a preliminary radio frequency amplifier'section ll followedby a demodulator or detector l2 which is supplied with beating oscillations fromv a localsource l3 of variable frequency. A'Ihedetectorzlz is preferably of a `balanced type such that the beating oscillations do not appear at its output terminals but only the side-bands. The latter are vapplied to aband-passlter llll so that a portion of one y of the Side-bandsdepending'on the frequency of the beating'oscillations, isfpassed on to an amplifier I5. A rectifier ,I6-connected to theoutput of amplifier l5 applies to control grid r3 of the oscilloscope a'unidirectional' voltagel that varies in accordance with the intensity of thevwaves livered by theV scanning receiver. .f

'The frequency to whichthe scanning receiver' is tuned is determined'bythe frequency of beating oscillator i3, and by means operating on the latter it is caused to sweep repeatedly over the frequency range to be monitored. The operating means mayftake any of'a variety of suitable formswell; knownin the art, suchas a motordriven frequency determining condenserV in the oscillation circuit, adapted to Vary the. beating frequency over the necessary frequency range. In any case the scanning may be cyclically in one direction across the frequency range or alternately in both directions. The scanning frequency, that is, the number of times per second that the frequency range is scanned, should be of the order of 'many' times per second for the purposes in View; Scanning frequencies ranging from ten cycles to sixty cycles per second have been successfully employedin various embodiments of applicants invention and may be taken as illustrative. j

Connected to deecting platesl y5 of the oscilloscope is a sweep circuit 2Dwhich generates ape,-

riodic saw-tooth voltage wave that causes the spotV on the oscilloscope screen to be displaced cyclical- 1y across the direction of movementof the screen. The cyclical displacement ofthe spot andthe cyclical change in the frequency to which the scanning receiver is tuned can be and are synchronized so that every position of the spot along its line ,ofi movement corresponds with and indicates a `predetermined frequency. In other words then, the cross dimension of the screen is established as afcoordinate vaxis representingA frequency. 'Ifhe synchronizing means indicated diagr-ammatical- 1y1-ata2l,r interconnects beating oscillator I3 and sweep circuit` .2 0 and may assume Aany form convenient andappropriate for use with theV specific forms of beating oscillation control .and sweep circuit chosen in a particular case.

, f In a typical caseythe cathode` ray spotis caused to move repeatedly from, say bottom to topof the viewing area while the tuning of the scanning receiver is synchronously changed or varied from bottom to top of the frequency range to bemonitored. At each instantthe brightness of the spot is .more yor less proportional to the wave energy appearing at that instant in theY frequency band to which'the receiver is tuned, and the circuit .componentsn may lbe so proportioned that inthe absence ofany such wave energy the spot is just harelyf'extinguished. r On each'passage of the spot across the. screen -azline record is left which, by virtue; of. the-variations in brightness along its length, indicatesr how. wave powerV is distributed throughout. the frequency range of interest, at substantially a given instant ot time. In View of the movement 0f the screen, the successive line records appear side by. side in registry with each otherA so that the manner in which wave power varieswith time in any given frequency. band appears, also. Thus telephonie signals appear on the screenasa horizontal line. or band with irregular edges corresponding to the speech moduv lation.; Telegraphic signals assume a characterradio Wai/,Tes ofiunusual character may be quickly and easily detectedfor theygenerally producean unusual eiect in the visual pattern and the veffect persists for atleast a matter of seconds.

.Theembodiment of the invention that is illustrated in Fig. 2 is similar in general outline tof that of ligL 1 in that a scanning receiver and oscilloscope with moving screen are associatedV tov producesubstantially. the, same kind of visual repre-I sentation... i I i l u -trodes to external circuits.

The oscilloscope is of a type disclosed in detail and claimed in an application of J. B. Johnson, Serial No. 422,192, filed December 9, 1941` (Patent N0. 2,324,089, July 13, 1943). It comprises a large substantially spherical portion and a neck-like extension in which are mounted a cathode and apertured anode for producing an axially directed electron` beam. A control, grid 3 is interposed to vpermit control of the intensity of the beam. The

r about its axis and slip rings and brushes are prostructure is arranged to be rotated continuously vided to permit connection ofthe various eleca Wide equatorial band of luminescent material deposited on the inner surface of the spherical portion of the tube. To bend the axially directed beam so that it impinges on the screen, magnetic bending coils are provided. The latter comprise a pair of stationary coils closely associated with the spherical portion of the tube and disposed at opposite sides thereof to produceva crosswise magnetic eld. Another pair of coils 46 is similarly Y disposed at right angles to the rst pair to produce a cross-magnetic eld at right angles to that produced by the pair 45. .The front coil 46 may be approximately rectangular as shown and large enough that it serves to dene or expose the viewing area and the other three coils may be of the same size and form. The excitation of the two sets of coils is then so adjusted that the spot appears at one side of the viewing area or, more particularly for example, at the lower right-hand corner thereof.

Stationary magnetic means are provided also` for controllablydeiiecting the electron .beam in an axial plane so that the spot can be controllably displaced along a line of longitude on the screen. The deflecting means comprises a pair of station- Y ary coils 53r disposed on opposite sides of the necklike. extension of the tube near the upper end.

thereof andV oriented to serve the purpose dep scribed. f Y

. ingcoils 53whereby the luminous spot `is cyclical-- ly displaced across the screen, ati-substantially right-angles to the ldirection of movement thereof, inrsubstantially Vthe same manner described with reference to Figllandsweep circuit 2U there-l The frequency controller 35 may be of a kind well-known inthe tart' of frequency modulation inwhich a so-called reactancetube circuit is connected to introduce into/the .tank circ-uit orother frequency determining portiony ofY the associated Y oscillator a reactance which varies inaccordance with the voltage of' a control waveapplied to the reactance tube circuit. Since .the Acontrol@voltage is derived from` the sweep.' circuit the cyclical displacement of theV luminous' spot is automatically synchronized with the changes inthefreq-uency of the' beating'osc'illations appliedpto modulator 3 3. Adjustable attenuater 3 6 controls Athe `width ofthe frequency band sweptby the beatingoscil- The screen comprises lator 34, and adjustable biasing`source-38 controls thel frequency position of the band. These elements may be so adjusted, for example, that the 'beating oscillations range from 30 to 38 mega- :be used for control of the oscilloscope The passband of filter 40, for specific example, may have Ya mid-frequency'of 40 megacycles and a width of -200 kilocycles. Filter 40 is followed by a second modulator 4| which is supplied with beating oscillations from an oscillator 42. The latter may havel an operating frequency of, 40.548 megacycles, for example, whereby one of the side-bands .produced has a mid-frequency of about 548 kilocycles. At this comparatively low frequency it is fairly easy to construct a band-pass filter having a narrow pass-band. Filter 43 which follows modulator 4I in circuit is accordingly designed to lhave a mean pass frequency of about 548 kilo- 4cycles and a band width of 15, 10 or 25 kilocycles, for example, depending on operating conditions. A set of filters 43 having these different band Widths may be provided and one lor another connected into circuit as desired.

Inasmuch as the intensity of the output of fllter-43 may have a range substantially greater than that which could effectively or safely be applied to the control grid 3 of the oscilloscope, an-amplitude compressor 44 may be interposed in circuit to restrict the intensity variation to a range accommodated to the capacity of the oscilloscope. The compressed Waves are then amplified as may -be required and applied Without rectification to control grid 3. Preferably the circuit ils so arranged that in the absence of signal energy the spot is just barely extinguished. l

In View of the foregoing description of Fig. 2 it will be understood .that the 4spot moves vertically along the right-hand edge of the viewing area in synchronism with the changes in tuning of the receiver organization whereby the vertical dimension of the viewing area is established as a coordinate of frequency. The brightness of the spot is at every instant -correlated with the wave intensity appearing in one or another narrow band Within the 2 to 10 megacycle range being monitored. vThey visual representation of the activity in the several frequency channels is of the same character as that obtained in the Fig. 1 I

system and it flows across the viewing area at a rate depending on the velocity of rotation of the oscilloscope. In one practical embodiment of the Fig. 2 system, the oscilloscope tube had a diameter of 10 inches, the viewing area was approximately five inches square and the oscilloscope was rotated at a rate of two revolutions per minute thus producing approximately one inch of horizontal movement of the screen per second. In this embodiment it will be noted the visual representations remain within the viewing area 35, and the mid-frequency is controlled 'by vari- Aable voltage source 38. With attenuator 36 set for magnification the adjustment at 38 virtually l permits the magnifier to be swept over the 2 to 10 megacycle range at will. When only a limited range is being scanned, greater definition can b e effectively obtained by employing a filter 43 that has a comparatively narrow pass-band, such as 1 to 5 kilocycles.

To facilitate tuning an auxiliary radio receiver to any particular signal appearing on the screen,

,and to facilitate accurate determination of the radio frequency of such signal, an auxiliary oscillator 60 of adjustable frequency is provided. The output of this oscillator is connected to the input terminals of filter 3l so that the oscillations are supplied concurrently with the received radio signals. These oscillations pass through the scanning equipment and eventually produce. on the screen a horizontal line trace in a frequency position correspondingr to the oscillation frequency. The frequency adjustment of oscillator 60 is mechanically or electrically geared with rthe tuning -control of receiver 6i so that the oscillation frequency and the frequency to which the receiver is tuned are always alike. Thus the frequency of oscillator 60 may be varied until the corresponding line trace coincides with the trace of asignal or other transmission to be investigated and automatically receiver 6| is tuned to receive the same signal. The tuning of a radio transmitter 62 may also be synchronized with the frequency adjustment of oscillator 60 so that radio interference can be created at will in any frequency channel represented on the screen.

Whatis claimed is: l. In combination, radio wave receiving means for repeatedly scanning a predetermined portion of the radio frequency spectrum, an oscilloscope comprising a luminescent screen and means for directing an electric discharge beam against said screen whereby a luminous trace is produced thereon, means for cyclically displacing said discharge beam in synchronism with the repeated f scanning, means for modifying said discharge beam in accord-ance with a, parameter of the output of said scanning means, and means for moving said screen 4to -bring different portions thereof successively into a predetermined viewing relation to an observer.

2. In combination, radio wave receiving means adapted to selectively receive substantially simultaneously radio waves lying in different component frequency bands within a Wide range of received radio frequencies, an oscilloscope comprising a luminescent screen and means producing on said screen a luminous spot of controllable position and brightness, means for displacing said spot to different positions respective to the several bands, means for -concurrently varying the brightness of said spot in any of its said positions in accordance with the varying intensity of the received waves in the respectively corresponding frequency bandfand means establishing progressive relative movement between said spot and said screen to afford a time axis. v

3. In combination, radio Wave receiving means adapted to selectively receive substantially simultaneously radio waves lying in different component frequency bands within a wide range of received radio frequencies, an oscilloscope comprising a. luminescent screen and means producing on said screen a luminous spot of controllable position' and brightness, means for displacing said spot to different positions respective to the several'ban'ds means for concurrently varying the brightness of said spot inaccordancewitn the 'varying intensity of the receivez'i.v waves .in the predetermined fixed region, and means for pro:-

gressively moving said screen to bring different portions thereof successively into said region.

4. In a system comprising an oscilloscope or the like in which a beam can be controllably directed to diferent parte' of theoscilloscope screen to produce a persistingl luminous trace, the method of Visually representing radio activity which co-m'- prisesy cyclically scanning the radio frequency spectrum to obtain an indication of theintensity of the radio activity in each .frequency band and simultaneously varying the brightness of the trace in accordance with said indication of intensity, moving the trace along onecoordinate in synchronism with the change in scanning frequency, and establishing continuous 4relative movement between the trace and the screen along another coordinate.

5. In a radio system, means for detecting lradio activity appearing in any of a multiplicity of different radio frequency channels lying within a d'enite frequency range, a cathode ray oscilloscope including a luminescent screen and means for producing on said screen a luminous trace of controllable position, means for moving said trace relative to and across said screen progressively in a predetermined direction to represent the pasvsage of time, means for displacing said trace crosswise of the direction Aof the aforesaid progressive movement to dierent positions re'spec:e tive to the different channels,xand means controlled by said detecting Ameans for modulating the luminous trace generated in anyof said posi'- tions in accordance Vwith variations in theintehsity of the radio activity in the respectively corresponding channel.

6.v In a system for continuously monitoring radio activity appearing in Va, multiplicity of radio communication channels, means for receiving si'- multaneously the waves `appearing in all of said channelsrband-pass lter means of adjustable mean frequency having a band width not substan-L tially greater than the frequency spacing of said channels, means for repeatedly varying said mean frequency progressively across the frequency range occupied by said channels many times a second, an oscilloscope comprisinggJ luminescent screen, means for projecting an electric beam dise charge against rsaid screen whereby a luminous 'spot' is formed thereon, beam-deecting "meansv lfor repeatedly sweeping said spot along a sube stantially xed path in synchronisniwith` the repeated variations in said mean frequency, means for varying the intensity o-f said beam discharge in accordance with the variations in the intensity 'of the waves passed-by Said lter means, and

means for progressively moving said screen so that said spot. follows a closed path thereon.

7. The method of visually representing radio -activity on a luminescent record surface which 'comprises receiving radio waves lying within a wide frequency range, repeatedly scanning the received waves, deriving from the scanned Waves a measure of the wave intensity in the component bands thereof, generating a luminous 'spot on said vrecord surface, varying the brightness of said spot in accordance with the variations in said measure of wave intensity, moving said record surface in one direction and displacing said spo-t cyclically across the said direction of movement in syn chronism with the repeated scanning.

8. In combination, a radio Wave receiver tun'- able throughout a range of frequencies, means for scanningradio Waves impressed on said receiver comprising means for cyclicallyvarying the frequency to which said receiver is tuned, a cathode ray oscilloscope having a luminescent screen, means for rotating at least the screen of said oscilloscope, means for varying the intensity of the cathode ray in accordance with the output ofsaid receiver, means for deecting said cathode ray cyclioally in synchronism with the cyclical variations in the tuning of said receiver, and cathode ray deilecting means for maintaining' said cathode ray in a xed plane. y RALPH-K. POTTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

" UNITED STATES PATENTS 

